Rail

BART shuts down 4 stations in response to protests

WASHINGTON, D.C. — During a protest of the transit system on Monday, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police shut down four stations along Market Street in downtown San Francisco, stranding riders and tying up street traffic, but didn’t disrupt cellphone service as it did last week, which spurred online hacking from an activist group known as Anonymous, The Atlantic Wire reported. BART police said the station closures were a safety measure to prevent dangerously overcrowded platforms.

Additionally, the agency faces a legal challenge from the Federal Communications Commission, which said it would look into BART's controversial blockage of cell phone service to disrupt Aug. 11 protests over a BART police officer's shooting of a homeless man last month. For the full story, click here.

This contract includes high voltage cabling from the state grid for the new 16-mile metro line. Alstom is the main supplier of Kochi metro after it has been awarded previous orders for 25 Metropolis trainsets, signalling, telecom and electrification. Commercial service is scheduled to begin in March 2016.

The contract, which is for a ten-year period with the option to extend another 5 years, covers maintenance and spare parts on 74 four-car Class 357 ELECTROSTAR trains and is valued at approximately $213 million.

The train wreck, which occurred in the early morning of March 24, 2014, when the operator allegedly fell asleep, injured more than 30 people and caused roughly $9 million in damage. The lead railcar had to be cut up to remove it from the escalator.